


The Thorny Roots Duo: Origins

by SalamanderGoo



Series: Gyaru Gals [2]
Category: Game Grumps, Game Gyaru - Fandom
Genre: Briar and Rose arent dating theyre associates and friends, Gen, Heists, Implied Deadnaming, Organized Crime, Origin Story, The transphobic asshole gets his arm boke tho, transphobic comments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-29 19:57:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20441639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SalamanderGoo/pseuds/SalamanderGoo
Summary: The Thorny Roots Duo is the latest group in disrupting the relative peace of the city, but how did they come to be?  And why does Rose cackle like that?  Only one of these questions will be answered.





	The Thorny Roots Duo: Origins

Rose O’Donovan was a chaotic genius. She’d been building and tinkering with gadgets since she was old enough to be in the garage unsupervised. She remembered her first engineering class, freshman year of high school. She’d been expecting a chance to build, but it had been so boring she ended up tuning out, instead flipping through the textbooks to jot down anything that might help with her building. Tests were easy and boring, and she’d find herself done in ten minutes, leaving the rest of the period open to be bored and plan.

Her notebooks were quickly filled with plans and ideas, but she lacked one important thing. Funding. She was a teen, didn’t have money.

The next year, she was given an opportunity to study at the local college, just taking a few classes once a week. And she loved it. She craved the knowledge, loved the atmosphere of the campus. She found herself skipping the bus home, instead taking the city bus later in the evening, spending time on the campus to study and occasionally bringing small gadgets to tinker with.

And she was starting to catch a certain someone’s eye.

Briar Wecht was a brilliant young woman. No one knew anything about her past, and that’s how she intended to keep it. She kept to herself, usually keeping herself with her nose in a book. But the way she carried herself often felt dangerous. If you looked too close for too long, things became visible. A long, thin scar just under her left eye, the way she never sat for too long before looking around, and her knack for noticing. It was like she saw everything.

She rarely spoke, but when she did, she either had scathing insults (the woman had no tolerance for idiocy) or a quick witted comment. Her intellect shone through, and she was sharp as a freshly sharpened dagger. She carried herself as if she knew exactly what was going on at any given moment. And Rose was quickly becoming a blip on the radar.

Spring was quickly growing warmer, and Rose was sitting on a bench under a blossoming apple tree, a book open on her lap, a notebook sitting open next to her, and a gadget and screwdriver in her hands. She was carefully screwing on a cover for wiring when a hand picked up the notebook. “This looks interesting.”

“It’s a gauntlet inspired glove. It’s designed to channel potential energy and speed up the conversion to kinetic to increase the force behind hits. It could be prettier, but as long as it works...” Rose pulled it on her right hand to test the weight, switching it on. She threw a punch forward, the glove humming as the motion built up the force faster than it would naturally build. The punch didn’t hit anything, but there was an impressive gust of wind that came off of it. She grinned. “The padding on the inside could use some work, but I like where it’s going… maybe someone stronger behind it?” She looked over at Briar, who was idly flipping through the notebook.

“...You want me to test it?”

“If your appearance is anything to go off of, you’re certainly stronger than me.” Rose slid off the glove, offering it with a bright grin. Briar hesitated a second, but took it, putting it on and flexing her hand a few times. “Hm…” Rose grabbed an old, outdated textbook from her bag. “I’ll hold this up, and just… put your all into it.” She held it up, bracing herself with one foot back. Briar brought her arm back, feeling the glove moving just a little around her fist. But she brought it forward into a powerful punch that knocked Rose back and split the cover of the book.

“Christ, are you okay?” Briar frowned, looking down at Rose, taking the glove off.

“I’m… great!” Rose got up, laughing. “It works, dude! I’ve been working on this for months! Ever since the beginning of the year, and it works!”

Briar blinked. “You’ve only been working on this for six or seven months? That’s… incredibly impressive. I’d love to have such raw talent.”

“Aw, it’s nothing really! I’m just super fucking great.” Rose smirked a little.

“...maybe we can help each other out a bit. Your notebook is full of impressive ideas, but this… this means you understand how to pull them off.”

“Help each other how?”

“I fund you, give you space and materials to build your gadgets, you let me use them, no questions asked.” Briar smiled, offering a hand.

“Deal!” She had zero hesitation, shaking Briar’s hand enthusiastically. “I’m only a sophomore though.”

“Finish high school, hon. Then give me a call.” She handed Rose a small card with her number on it. “Of course, if you need funding before then, give me a call, shoot me a text, whatever. Tell me about it, and we’ll discuss the budget.” Briar have a two fingered wave and walked off, melding perfectly into a small crowd of people.

And Rose stood there, stars in her eyes because someone finally cared about her work. Briar could be the devil incarnate and she couldn’t give a damn.

Rose wasn’t too far off in that realm, though Briar wasn’t the devil. But she was damn far from an angel.

Two years passed, and Rose was breathing down the neck of graduation, sitting on Briar’s apartment floor, messing with her latest gadget. Briar set a mug of coffee on the small end table for Rose before sitting on the couch. “You don’t have to sit on the floor you know.”

“It’s more comfortable.” She didn’t even look up from the wiring she was focused on. “So what’s your deal, man?”

“My… deal?”

“Why are you paying a kid who isn’t out of high school to build shit for you? I’ve been using your cash for two years now. I don’t know shit about you.”

“Because they’re innovative. Because they’re what I need to bring the corrupt government of this damn city to its knees.”

Rose sighed. “So you’re trying to take over the city? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Briar raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to leave?”

“No, but now I know destruction was totally the direction I should’ve gone.”

Briar laughed, grinning. She liked this kid. “Well, tell me about this one. It looks almost done.”

“Oh, this? It’s kinda… simple I guess. It can alter states of matter without drastically changing temperatures. I haven’t gotten the opportunity to test it on anything, but I have some high hopes for it.”

“So it completely disregards thermodynamics?”

“Well, instead of directly changing temperatures, it targets the atomic structure and alters the speed of the movement. Which, of course changes the temperature indirectly, but if I did everything right, it shouldn’t be nearly as drastic as if I targeted temperature itself instead.” She grinned, looking content with the gadget.

“Rose, you are such a genius.” Briar ruffled her hair.

“Does that mean you’ll tell me about your mysterious past now?”

“In time Rose, in time.”

Another two years passed. Rose had graduated and moved in with Briar, who had finished college and was working as a professor, though the streaks of gray made her look older than she was. They were planning a big move, Briar investigating a nearby bank carefully, determining how the vault worked. They had codenames now, which they used while talking on the phone and texting, never addressing each other by name unless it was in person, face to face. It was thrilling for Rose. To her, it didn’t matter what side of the law she was on, as long as she could keep working on her gadgets.

It was a late afternoon when Briar and Rose were walking back to their apartment with a few bags, some groceries, some parts for Rose to work with. They were taking a shortcut through an alley, laughing about something, when a man stepped out, staring at Briar. “Been awhile.”

Briar froze, bristling. “I thought you skipped town.”

“That’s what I wanted everyone to think. You’ve changed-”

“Don’t even think about using that name.” She shoved the bags she was holding at Rose, who hardly managed to grab them all.

“I see you got yourself a little girlfriend. Deciding to play housewife for awhile?”

“She’s a friend and associate. Don’t bring her into this.” Briar’s voice was sharp as she stepped towards the man, who didn’t even flinch. “The agreement was you left the city and the organization let you live.”

“Well, my associates told me you’re the only one left.”

“The organization is no longer functioning, but I have no problem upholding the rules by myself.” In a single, fluid motion, Briar had his arm pinned to his back, twisting it in a way the body shouldn’t allow. He was far taller and visibly buff, but Briar narrowed her eyes, forcing his arm a little more. “I’ll give you this one chance. The boss is gone, and I’ve assumed responsibility for the final few members who stuck around. They answer to me now, and so do you. So you have five seconds to tell me why I should let you go before I snap your arm so bad you’ll never use it to touch another woman again.”

“Well you aren’t exactly a woman, are you?”

Then he screamed, a snap echoing through the alley, making Rose flinch. Briar didn’t let go of the now broken arm, leaning down to talk into his ear. “My name is Briar Wecht, and I swear to whatever’s out there, if you even think of using that old name you won’t walk again. If I ever see your face in this city again, you won’t get to walk again. If you value your legs, your life, or your reputation, you’ll be gone by the time the sun gets below the damn horizon.”

He didn’t even say a word as she dropped him, sending him collapsing to the ground. Briar took the bags she’d shoved to Rose, starting to walk. “Come on Rose, we’re going home.” Her voice was sharp, but there was an odd look in her eyes that Rose had never seen. She spared a glance back, where the man was picking himself up, but hurried to catch up to Briar.

They were both silent until they were inside the apartment, Briar starting to unpack and put the groceries away. Then tears started falling down her face, startling Rose. “Briar? Briar, hey, woah, what’s wrong?”

Briar shook her head, scrubbing at her eyes. “Sorry, fuck, I’m frustrated.” She leaned on the counter, taking a shuddery breath as she covered her face. “Haven’t been confronted with that in a long time.”

“Yeah, who was that?” Rose rested a hand on Briar’s arm, worried and confused.

“I told you I’d tell you about my past in time. Well, I guess it is about time.” She blew her nose, throwing out the tissue with a sigh. “When I was a kid, like, really young, before I can even remember, my parents were involved in shady business. They kept me a secret from the circle they were involved in, and they crossed too many lines, got themselves…” She trailed off, but dragged her pointer finger across her throat. “The house was searched, and there I was, a two year old kid, hardly walking and talking, malnourished and abandoned. The head of the crime ring took me in, wanted to make me the perfect little bandit.” She snorted. “He raised me, taught me everything I know. How to fight, how to plan, how to use my body to my advantage. By the time I was 8, I could break a grown man’s arm, take him down. My size was an advantage, my strength was unexpected.”

Briar looked up at the ceiling for a long moment. “I was integral to heists. I was a distraction or I got into places no one else could. I was learning the ropes, being groomed to take over. It was basically the mob, if less organized. The boss thought I was the perfect son.” She practically spat the word. “Of course, I turned out different than expected. He wasn’t a terrible father all things considered, but I grew up in a crime ring.” She sighed. “The summer after I turned 17, the boss died. To this day, I still think he was poisoned, but things kind of dissolved. I went to college, destroyed all my records, and made new ones. I’m Briar now, far from the name anyone knew me by, but the only one anyone’s ever going to know again.”

Briar tensed when Rose wrapped her in a tight hug. “Briar… fuck.”

“Yeah.” Briar sighed, resting a hand tiredly on Rose’s back, letting herself be hugged. “But… hey, I’ve got a cool friend now, who makes me cool shit.”

Rose laughed. “You sure do. Now, I think we’ve got a heist to keep planning.”

“I’ll get the vault blueprints, you order pizza.”

Rose saluted, poking her tongue out with a bright smile. Briar sighed, grabbing herself a beer from the fridge. Well, if she only had Rose now, that was more than enough.


End file.
